2011-2012 Boston University Application Thread

[Sammich117]

Reserved for prompt.

Please PM the essays or lack thereof to me when the secondary is available and I will update this.

Best of luck with your application !

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[bookfreak89]

Go Boston Med!

 

[RogueUnicorn]

w00t

 

[qkx]

is BU P/F?

 

[RogueUnicorn]

yes, for preclinicals

 

[Monocles]

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping to apply here too. Boston is one of my top choices, I just hope I have the MCAT scores to get in! Best of luck to us all!

 

[vickpick]

applying here

 

[vickpick]

Top OOS choice

 

[edge of desire]

anyone know if they're very numbers focused or holistic? what kinds of student do they like to take/woudl do well there? i've heard they like very liberal types.

 

[BUMED2015]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be a first year student at Boston University this year. Please post your questions and I'll do my best to answer them. BU has an optional secondary essay, and I advise that you take this seriously. Because BU receives so many applications, it gauges the applicants' interest based on the optional essay (though I've heard of people getting interviews w/o writing the optional essay, it definitely does help to write a strong optional essay). Also, BU stops interviewing mid to late February, which means get your secondaries in ASAP! I got mine in kind of late and barely made the cut. Had i submitted even a week later, I would not have been interviewed.

Also, BU takes a very holistic approach to the admissions process. Don't be discouraged if your gpa and/or mcat score is below the average for BU.

I'm not in school yet so I won't be much of a help in terms of giving you information about the curriculum, but I can definitely answer any questions you might have about the application process, interviews, etc.

Good Luck!

 

[Shakespeare37]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be a first year student at Boston University this year. Please post your questions and I'll do my best to answer them. BU has an optional secondary essay, and I advise that you take this seriously. Because BU receives so many applications, it gauges the applicants' interest based on the optional essay (though I've heard of people getting interviews w/o writing the optional essay, it definitely does help to write a strong optional essay). Also, BU stops interviewing mid to late February, which means get your secondaries in ASAP! I got mine in kind of late and barely made the cut. Had i submitted even a week later, I would not have been interviewed.

Also, BU takes a very holistic approach to the admissions process. Don't be discouraged if your gpa and/or mcat score is below the average for BU.

I'm not in school yet so I won't be much of a help in terms of giving you information about the curriculum, but I can definitely answer any questions you might have about the application process, interviews, etc.

Good Luck!

Thanks a ton for the advice! Good luck as an MS1!
What attracted you most to BU?

 

[BUMED2015]

Thanks a ton for the advice! Good luck as an MS1!
What attracted you most to BU?

Hi Shakespeare 37,

BU has many strengths:

Patient population - VERY diverse due to BU being a safety-net hospital. You will get to meet pts from all socioeconomic backgrounds, including international refugees. For this reason, BU has one of the best language interpretation services in the nation.

Research - BU is a strong research institution that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. Many of our faculty members are leading experts in the fields. This is definitely a plus if you're interested in academic medicine.

Holistic Admissions - Thanks to BU's holistic approach to medicine, your medical peers will not only be intelligent and academically successful, but they will also have diverse life/work experiences and interests.

Early Clinical Exposure - You will get to work with pts starting from your first week of medical school. Also, BU has an introduction to clinical medicine course and an integrated problems course that allows you to apply what you learn in a classroom environment to real life cases. This fosters critical thinking skills early on.

Trauma Center - BU has the busiest major trauma center in New England, and BMC is the level I trauma center for boston.

Hope this helps a little!

Also, BU has the most transparent admissions process. If it knows for certain that they want to reject you, it will do so in exactly 3 weeks (plus or minus 2-3 days). It doesn't leave you hanging. Also, it's a good sign if you receive the "30 day" email (please see 2010-2011 thread for more details).

Good Luck!

 

[Prateek]

Canadian applying here Good luck

 

[RogueUnicorn]

anyone know if they're very numbers focused or holistic? what kinds of student do they like to take/woudl do well there? i've heard they like very liberal types.

if by very liberal you mean dedicated to service, yes.

 

[Shakespeare37]

Hi Shakespeare 37,

BU has many strengths:

Patient population - VERY diverse due to BU being a safety-net hospital. You will get to meet pts from all socioeconomic backgrounds, including international refugees. For this reason, BU has one of the best language interpretation services in the nation.

Research - BU is a strong research institution that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. Many of our faculty members are leading experts in the fields. This is definitely a plus if you're interested in academic medicine.

Holistic Admissions - Thanks to BU's holistic approach to medicine, your medical peers will not only be intelligent and academically successful, but they will also have diverse life/work experiences and interests.

Early Clinical Exposure - You will get to work with pts starting from your first week of medical school. Also, BU has an introduction to clinical medicine course and an integrated problems course that allows you to apply what you learn in a classroom environment to real life cases. This fosters critical thinking skills early on.

Trauma Center - BU has the busiest major trauma center in New England, and BMC is the level I trauma center for boston.

Hope this helps a little!

Also, BU has the most transparent admissions process. If it knows for certain that they want to reject you, it will do so in exactly 3 weeks (plus or minus 2-3 days). It doesn't leave you hanging. Also, it's a good sign if you receive the "30 day" email (please see 2010-2011 thread for more details).

Good Luck!

Thanks BUMED!

 

[Snuke]

Secondary is up! You should get two different emails.

 

[vickpick]

Secondary is up! You should get two different emails.

Haven't got mine yet.. waiting...

 

[TheBox22]

Haven't got mine yet.. waiting...

Same

 

[SteveJMarist]

No secondary here either.

 

[PotteryBarn]

Do you mind posting the secondary questions?

 

[topherP]

Do they send out secondaries in any specific order? I.e. If my last name is further in the alphabet then someone else's will it take longer, or do they go in one big blast email... I'm yet to receive BU's secondary too...

 

[Shakespeare37]

Do you mind posting the secondary questions?

If you did not go to college directly after high school, please explain: (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)
If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain. (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)
If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.)
Please provide a narrative or timeline to describe any features of your educational history that you think may be of particular interest to us. For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself? Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. (2000 character limit, approximately 400 words)
Most applicants apply to many medical schools and we are aware that the cumulative work of the application process is substantial. Furthermore, we have found that for most applicants, an extra essay written expressly for Boston University adds little to the information content of the portfolio. We, therefore, do not require a supplemental essay.

While we no longer require an essay, some applicants feel that additional information is necessary in order to provide us with a comprehensive understanding of their strengths as a candidate for a career in medicine. If you wish, use the space below to offer an essay or any other information, up to a total of 3000 characters (approximately 500 words), addressing any issue you feel is of importance. If you choose to use the space, please do not duplicate information provided elsewhere in this supplemental application or in material you have submitted to AMCAS.

Use this optional section only if you believe that the additional information will help us to learn something about you as a person, to get a sense of who you are and what you are about, beyond the basic facts of your academic work and your life history as it is otherwise available to us.

Please be assured that we offer this opportunity only for those applicants who wish to provide additional information and that it is entirely optional. For most applicants, no supplementary essay will be necessary and this space can be left blank.​

This section may also be used by re-applicants who wish to highlight specific areas of their application.

 

[therunner12]

Finished my essays and I haven't received the secondary yet. Now on to the next one.

 

[SteveJMarist]

Are others still waiting for the secondary? I still haven't received it.

 

[chitown22]

Still nothing here either...

 

[Fox800]

Haven't received it here, either.

 

[oaa]

still waiting

 

[SteveJMarist]

I ended up getting it this afternoon. I'm sure the rest of you will receive it soon.

 

[BlockM]

I finalized my app w/o the optional essays. Will this hurt me? I don't really have any "necessary issues to address."

 

[TuloRocks]

I finalized my app w/o the optional essays. Will this hurt me? I don't really have any "necessary issues to address."

I read their prompt as "please for the love of god do not write anything in this section" so I left it blank

 

[BlockM]

^^^LOL same here...they go on a tangent about how it's absolutely not necessary

 

[therunner12]

I wrote 2995 characters.

Just to make y'all worry.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

i think it would behoove you, if you have no obvious ties to boston or a good reason to go to bu, to write a why-bu kind of essay. remember, there are 10K other applications coming in here.. those who are clearly above or below the average numbers would do well especially to write an extra bit.

 

[Strawberries]

I wrote 2995 characters.

Just to make y'all worry.

Yup, planning to do the same!

 

[therunner12]

i think it would behoove you, if you have no obvious ties to boston or a good reason to go to bu, to write a why-bu kind of essay. remember, there are 10K other applications coming in here.. those who are clearly above or below the average numbers would do well especially to write an extra bit.

Reading through last years thread....numerous people said using that space for a "why BU" sort of thing is frowned upon.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Reading through last years thread....numerous people said using that space for a "why BU" sort of thing is frowned upon.

everything is hearsay and opinions until proven otherwise, and i've never spoken to one of the interview screeners directly about this specific question, but it's just my hunch. for the high-stats people, i am fairly confident that you should not expect them to just know you want to go there. you have to let them know.

 

[Fox800]

I read their prompt as "please for the love of god do not write anything in this section" so I left it blank

Same here. Took the "optional" part to heart instead of vomiting up something to fill the blank like a typical neurotic pre-med.

Submitted!

 

[SoulNote]

Is anyone else still waiting for the secondary? I was verified on the 2nd...

 

[Prateek]

Just got the Boston U Web Account Registration e-mail at 8:54pm. Waiting on the second one

And there it is, 9:24pm

 

[vickpick]

Is anyone else still waiting for the secondary? I was verified on the 2nd...

I'm verified and waiting.

 

[kautionwirez]

If you did not go to college directly after high school, please explain: (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)
If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain. (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)
If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.)
Please provide a narrative or timeline to describe any features of your educational history that you think may be of particular interest to us. For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself? Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. (2000 character limit, approximately 400 words)
Most applicants apply to many medical schools and we are aware that the cumulative work of the application process is substantial. Furthermore, we have found that for most applicants, an extra essay written expressly for Boston University adds little to the information content of the portfolio. We, therefore, do not require a supplemental essay.

While we no longer require an essay, some applicants feel that additional information is necessary in order to provide us with a comprehensive understanding of their strengths as a candidate for a career in medicine. If you wish, use the space below to offer an essay or any other information, up to a total of 3000 characters (approximately 500 words), addressing any issue you feel is of importance. If you choose to use the space, please do not duplicate information provided elsewhere in this supplemental application or in material you have submitted to AMCAS.

Use this optional section only if you believe that the additional information will help us to learn something about you as a person, to get a sense of who you are and what you are about, beyond the basic facts of your academic work and your life history as it is otherwise available to us.

Please be assured that we offer this opportunity only for those applicants who wish to provide additional information and that it is entirely optional. For most applicants, no supplementary essay will be necessary and this space can be left blank.​

This section may also be used by re-applicants who wish to highlight specific areas of their application.

If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain.

For this question, should I answer this because I am working at the moment and graduated in 2010?

 

[cici269]

hey on the BU secondary, did any of you get a "!" next to required courses that you met the way they wanted it??

 

[Shakespeare37]

If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain.

For this question, should I answer this because I am working at the moment and graduated in 2010?

I would and did.

 

[Shakespeare37]

hey on the BU secondary, did any of you get a "!" next to required courses that you met the way theyyou wanted it??

You have to enter 0's if you don't have it. Also make sure to look all the way to the right and enter how many of the hours were at an accredited institution. You have to be careful, because the program will change numbers back to zero when you change something else in the row.

 

[asrikrishnan]

hey on the BU secondary, did any of you get a "!" next to required courses that you met the way they wanted it??

I have a bunch of these "!" marks. This is probably due to my acceptance of a lot of AP credit hours which my undergraduate university accepted and put on my official transcript. However I am also confused about the ones that I actually did in my university like ochem. If my ochem lecture and lab were separate do I put 2 for lecture only and 2 for lab only for a total of 4 or 2 with lecture and lab?

 

[asrikrishnan]

Actually nvm I read it wrong... This is a pain to do for now the 4th time...

 

[JSU]

Any idea what it means by "semesters"? Is that semesters at a college or semester units?

 

[oaa]

got it this morning.

 

[asrikrishnan]

Any idea what it means by "semesters"? Is that semesters at a college or semester units?

I took it to mean semesters in the university. As in if you took 2 semesters of general chemistry with lab you put a 2 in the middle column and 0's in the other two. If you did an AP/CLEP/Community College course you would obviously not have the last column equal the other columns.

 

[cici269]

ok yea, i just realized that the "!" goes away AFTER you enter in numbers...so nm.
but just to make sure, if u did AP English and 2 semesters of English in college, do you put 3 Total Lecture only Semesters, and 2 Total Semesters at Pref. Instit?

Thanks!